I am for a Free, Secular Egypt! Where Egyptians all live together in harmony. I want to see my country excel and achieve what it is really capable of!

Saturday, August 05, 2006

17 Ways to modernize EGYPT.

These are some of the reforms I believe we need to see in EGYPT, I wrote these points down about a year ago, before the new Israeli aggression, which I am totally against, but me being against Israel's actions, absolutely does not mean I support any Islamic or otherwise militant movement! I'm not looking to change the world or the country with my suggestions, they are merely suggestions that if put into action could only improve our state.1) Clean the city, if someone gets caught throwing garbage in the street give them a ticket, if your walking down the street and you see a piece of paper, pick it up and throw it away. Why do people keep their city dirty, I just don't get it? who wants to live in this filth? My grandmother tells me of the time when Egypt was a clean country, what happened?

2)Care about human life, and don't just say its fate and it was their time to go.

3) MUST MUST separate religion from state, Egypt is not one religion it is many. Every EGYPTIAN no matter his religion must feel welcome in his country. Teach respect of religion weather it be Jewish, Muslim or Christian, Teach kids to judge people by their actions not their religion.

4)Create a minimum wage(people get paid a certain amount of money at the minimum, for example in America no one can get paid less than $5.75 an hour, its illegal) so that poor people aren't always poor. So that people can actually make something out of nothing.

5) Absolutely free enterprise, too many businesses and services are owned by the government in Egypt,, private hospitals,ambulance companies,security companies ect..., so that there is competition and companies have to have good customer service to stay in business.

6)Create a credit rating system so people can borrow money from banks and buy homes and cars, and if they do not pay their bills,go after them legally government loans to small business owners, so they can start a business, and provide a service to make the community better, and better themselves.

7) Educate POLICE, respect them, don't just make them a shawish and pay them nothing, pay them good so that they are motivated and feel like they are something. Respect is one of the biggest motivators.

8)Ticket speeders and bad drivers who don't obey traffic laws and make them pay a fine and go to court, therefore people are liable and will think twice before they drive like morons.

9)GOVERNMENT regulations on buildings and parks and any areas, so owners must stay on top of their work and keep our city looking good, repair roads and buildings(remove ugly advertisements from building sides) by using private construction companies, that have to compete for business therefore they do a good job. Make our city look good.

10)Instill in the kids that they must grow up and be successful, that they don't have to be poor, teach them that praying and so on is important but also working and making a lot of money is important and possible, you can't just keep on praying, you must work hard and want to be something.

11)Stop preaching hate against Israel and America, look at our own country and its problems and try to fix it and its economy before crying about Palestine and Iraq. What Israel is doing in Lebanon and Palestine is of course wrong and horrible. But we really need to Help our country first then help anyone else.

12) increase government employees pay so that they actually do a good job and not just hate their job and hate being there, therefore passing their misery onto the consumer.

13)Allow free press, people should babble to talk freely and state their opinions.

14)Make the armed forces voluntary, but create opportunities, such as free private colleges if you are in the armed forces, benefits, insurance. Make a soldier, even the lowest rank feel proud and patriotic not miserable, and treated like a cockroach.

15)Free democratic election so that candidates must try hard to make the country happy and improve it. Only 4 year terms like in the USA, not 20 something years. Be very careful when voting, we don't want a crazy Iran Like Islamic state.

16) Create rules and regulate all aspects of the country, such as the taxis for example, make them have to pass emission tests for example, forced regulations make companies more liable and responsible for what they do.

17)I really think the Education system in Egypt is TOO HARD, yes too hard, I remember up until I was 14(the year I moved to USA) I was always studying, hours upon hours, I had nothing else to do. Not enough time for sports or to expand ones mind. In the USA and Europe people develop their learning skills, but have time to join in other activities therefore they get to expand their horizons.

23 comments:

Don Cox
said...

That would be an excellent list for any country.______I find Number 17 interesting - I notice the Iraqi students too seem to be forever studying for exams. Yet I never see any mention of laboratory work or practical projects. It seems to be all mountains of rote learning. We all need an apparatus of facts, but education must be about thinking for yourself and asking qustions too.

Hmm...some of what you say is interesting and would be great to instill in many Egyptian children. And certainly, the path out of poverty is better education and higher wages. But, is it wise to want to impose democratic views on so many who wouldn't abide by it?

I loved your 17 ways to modernize Egypt. I will ask you one question, Have you read he History of Egypt? if you did you will not bother to even think not alone write a suggestions. Egypt will remain as it is and it will get worse. The problem of Egypt is The Egyptian.

I think you should try to get lots of things back from the peromids of egypt. Just have gards watching every thing. It is sad to go in the peronids and be disopinted. You read books and watch movies of all the beatuful thesurs in the peromids. When I went to egypt I was very disopinted.Please do something to make the peromids beautiful again. Thank You for reading this Your's Truely, Lisa Gatlin,USA age 10

I think you should try to get lots of things back from the peromids of egypt. Just have gards watching every thing. It is sad to go in the peronids and be disopinted. You read books and watch movies of all the beatuful thesurs in the peromids. When I went to egypt I was very disopinted.Please do something to make the peromids beautiful again. Thank You for reading this Your's Truely, Lisa Gatlin,USA age 10

While I think every single point on here is valid and definately a way to improve Egypt, I dont think this will ever happen. Call me a pessimist, but things like "seperating religion and the state" are idealistic for Egypt, which has evergrowing fundamentalist tendancies

Wow, all the NEGATIVE comments, see, thats the problem, NO ONE HAS HOPE!! I'm going to Egypt in a few months, and i will actually get off my ass and TRY to make a change! as little as it is, i will try, even if it is picking up trash off the side of the road, its a change!! a positive one!

I think that definitly if those 17 ways were applied Egypt will be a much brighter place.

But i guess the main problem, is that those who believe the worth of such ways are mainly those who choose or were set to live abraod.

And until those people, mainly the most promising of the countries youth, feel in their hearts the passion to come back, the same way ur expressing, and have the will and the strength to face difficulties in making a realy change, because it will be everything but easy, i think until those people have the will and the strength, we can't rely on the uneducated poorly brought up ppl to make a difference.

c'mon,you aren't talking about a primitive country in africa!in the year 1860 Egypt had a parliament while there was a civil war in USA.,it was only in the 1950s when the nigros had the right to vote in the elections in usa,so ,why now,you lost any hope in Egypt,and why now,you are hopeless,content with living in a strange country and culture of ya,and why you can't even say a good word to someone offering a good approach in his mind?according to the national center of statistics in Egypt ,480,000 "Egyptian skilfull professionals" are in the west,not to mention,93% of health care providers working in the gulf,are Egyptians."the problem of Egypt is the Egyptians" you are a sick head!,i was talking about those Egyptians,and the numbers i have just mentioned are my best reply to you,but seems you are a loser in your place,thinking of all as losers,those Egyptians whom you talk about iclude also zewail ,farouk albaz,magdi yahcoub...etci see,that the treasure of Egypt is the Egyptians,the problem is the dictatorship,and the absence of the right system,that can direct the country to the right goals.i would agree with all of the 17 points,but tarek you have to look at what we can really do,and what can't we,currently i'm away from Egypt,and i will do something when i go back,not just trying,not just hoping,not blaming and complaining,but i will do something which can be one day great.we have to gather the efforts of all who wanna change,to be collected in a main channel for a more powerful output,for a more effective implementation of goals,lots of Egyptians wanna share,believe me,we are a unique country,and a unique people,we just need the right chance.

so tarek i guess you better start off with a strategy that can gather people's efforts around you,a strategy which is applicable,and feasible,i would like amr khalid's prject "life makers" i have heard of it,it was pretty effective

Shams, Whats the reason for you insulting me? Guess you can't have a civil conversation... ;)

Before talking all this shit, you need to read my post, and other posts, i LOVE EGYPT and know there are very smart minds there, but they don't use them, and when they do its in another country because EGYPT's Govt and Economy can't provide for the people!

your talking about 1850's and so on, LOOK AT US NOW! we have gone back hundreds of years, from CHIQUE, HighClass people to mostly KHARA!

:)tarek i didn't insult you,i like your way of thinking ,you absolutely mistunderstood me,i was giving a reply to those who said that the "problem of Egypt is the Egyptians" and the Egyptian British one who was very negative.i know how bad are we now,but i gave you examples that quite illustrated that alot of things can be achieved in less time than expected,i said america had a civil war in the year 1860,and we had a parliament that time,and the civil rights in the biggest democracy in the world wasn't completely achieved till the 1950,so,i didnt mean to borrow some pride from the past,or ingesting panadol for a cancer pain,no,ill give you another example,south korea and malysia were much poor than Egypt just till 20 years ago,so,why should we lose hope? good luck with your job tarek,one day ill join you,believe me\i think things can start here in your blog,how many great things did start by a thought,and some efforts of few men?

i agree with everything, except for the point about education, it's true that in most arab countries, i'm from jordan not egypt, school is hard, but at least we learn something, or at least i did. while in the US they only teach you the stuff simply, they don't let you expand your thinking, and take things from the other point of view, and nor do they actually teach you true or important history. they teach you things in sucha simple manner that you get a rather biased and "half-truth" image of the actual event, especially in social studies subjects. i understand we need labs etc. but we also need to teach the full-truth and the whole event or whatever, to just spoon-feed our children easy propaganda. we muyst teach them the true history and abotu all our problems in egypt and the arab countries so that maybe in the future they can know them and fix them! btw i am living in the US right now, and have been for 3 years.

plus i think by federal regulation, he meant regulations from the central government, not the mohafatha.

but the thing about min. wage, is that it can spur heavy inflation, and inflation is not exactly a good thing for the poor.

and i see many little pessimisstic post, thet's really a problem with most of the arab world, not just egypt, our people have no hope, we don't think change is possible, and we don't try to change things, and this what we end up with. a society with no true leader, the presidents and executives are either corrupt or dictatorial, or just plain dummy's, that can take the fall when the government or whoever controls the government does something wrong. and without leaders what can we do, we always talk about the past and how we were on the doors of india and andalucia, but look at us now, we can't get out of our borders! then they come and say, "well like qoran says, 'one day for you, and one day on you" well guess what it's been one day for us, and a 400 years against us, ain't it time to get some hope into ourselves, and at least try to effect change, at least try to clean the city up for god's sake, i have never been to egypt, but my parents have and they say it's horrible!

I am Mohamed... What Shams has said in his comment is an ideal Egyptian thought that never accept differences... Yeah I have to admit it Egyptians lack the right way of communication... They are also raciests againest whoever is different... Muhammed: It is good that you saw the bright side of Islam... But we cannot let a mad guy carry a gun... Modern Pharaoh knows that if those guys got in power we will be in deep shit... Their idiologies are not similar to the old generations... they love blood and love to kill and love to make u suffer...

I AM SORRY COMING A LITTLE LATE BUT BELEIVE THAT THIS IS NOT A BAD RECIPE...FOR EDUCATION I BELEIVE WE HAVE TO INSTILL LOTS OF LOST VALUES THAT EGYPTIAN HAD STARTED TO LOOSE SINCE THE SOCIAL CHANGES THAT CAME WITH THE 1952 MILITRARY COUP....THE STUFF STUDENTS LEARN DOES NOT TEACH ANY MORE VALUES SUCH AS BEING HONEST,STRAIGHT,AMBITIOUS,FAIR....ARE NOT THERE ANYMORE

Well Modern Pharoah , I really enjoyed your post and I highly admire your enthusiasm.

However what really upsets me is the brain drain phenomenon and the effect it has had on the generations following it. I cant tell you how many times I heard Egyptians living in the Gulf and even more in Canada and the USA , all pledging to come back and do something for the country.. They might come for a short visit as tourists, but they never do come back, all succombing to making themselves feel good by saying "oh the children have become so unaccustomed to the Egyptian lifestyle". Please dont turn into one of those... If all of us want Egypt to change then we need every well educated mind.

The problems of Egypt can all be solved with a grand revolution of the Education system, from that stems all the problems that you so wonderfully accounted for in your seventeen points. Unbfortunately that naturally takes time, but first of all , our officials need to have the selflessness to not want a pat on their back in their lifetime, that means digging down to the roots of the problems and mainly the education system, they must resist the urge to spend their efforts on superficial quick fix flashy projects and decisions that do nothing on the long run other than earn them valid ear-time with the President.

As for those pessimists saying that there is no hope, just remember that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk changed the culture of the Turks , he changed the way millions wrote and read from the Arabic alphabet to the Latin one, he changed the dress code and most of all he inherited a 90 % illiteracy and then overturned it to 90 % literacy all that in the span of ONLY 15 years (1923-1938). With enlightened leadership everything can happen , and of course, Modern Pharaoh that goes in tandem with some of your posts.

As for the nice fellow who said that the problem is in the Egyptians, well i think Ms. Shams responded adequatly to him, but what i want to say is that if you are Egyptian, then your statement can only be true if applied to Egyptians like you.

I think you should hop back on a plane and try living back in Egypt if you truly want to make a difference. Sitting on your chair complaining from 6000 miles away will do nothing to help your country or your people. Go serve in your military....I can tell you skipped out on your compulsory duty which leads me to believe that all you are saying is just words and not anything that holds any true conviction. I honestly believe you ripped off your 17 points of contention from somewhere else....and Ill find it to prove you a charlatan. There is no anger towards you I just see you for who you really are....an american who wants to be egyptian because of a cool cultural heritage. I think you can catch flights for around $1500 at todays rates...but you'll have to buy a pillow and blanket for around $7 american.

You make allot of good points, but i dont know if your views are practical, We Americans struggle to keep many of the systems you suggest going despite our abundance of indistry and resources, Even in times of economic bliss our legal system fails to address equal punishment for equal crimes, it would take way to much work to set up a project that would ultamatly fail.

I agree with Muhammad the Roman. Folks, secularism doesnt work. Secularism leads to prostitutes, and playboy magazine, and rape, and guys harrasing girls, and robberies, and serial killers. Back when Islam was ISLAM, it laid down the line...you steal, and are convicted of stealing...your hand comes off. You kill, and are convicted of killing...your head comes off. Simple, to the point, justice. No wishy-washing prison sentence, or insanity plea (though there is such a thing in Islam,just not as weak). Egypt and the Arabs were at the top when Islam at the top. And that's the only way it's going to be.

Oh, and Anwar Sadat was the most corrupt individual ever...he blamed the butchers for raising the price of meat so no one can buy the tainted meat he imported from some place in Asia. The poor butchers didn't have customers for almost a month. Even the movies from his time were disgusting...all nonsensical half naked women dancing to some belly dance music (Fifi Abdo, and the rest)